chase



June 26, 1934.

G. C. CHASE REGI$TER Filed Aug. 20, 1932 2 sheets sheet 1 INVENTOR Geo/9 C 67 -132 J ATTORNEY G. C. CHASE June 26, 1934.

REGISTER Filed Aug. 20, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 26, 1-934 UNITED STA REGISTER George 0. Chase, South Orange, N. J., assignor to Monroe Calculating Machine Company, Orange, N. J., a corporation of Delaware Application August 20, 1932, Serial No. 629,629 13 Claims.- (01. 235136) The invention has relation to tens carry mechanism for calculating machines or other registers, being particularly designed for use with registers capable of operation at high speeds.

This carry mechanism is of the orbital gear type, such gearing being defined in Patent No. 1,858,763, issued to George C. Chase on May 1'7, 1932. As stated in this patent, orbital gearing implies gearing including a member having ro-- register wheel.

Transmission of the selected values and of the tens carry values may occur simultaneously, the driven leg of the difierential attaining a speed of movement equal to the speed of the first leg, plus that of the second leg. Therefore, as applied to a calculating machine, wherein selected values and tens carry values may be transmitted simultaneously in a plurality of adjacent denominational orders, a rapid augmentation of driven speed results from right to left along the series of register wheels. This occurs because the speed of operation of the tens carry leg of the differential corresponds to the driven speed of the lower order register wheel, so that, assuming a basic speed value of unity for each leg of the differential, the result may be indi-- cated as follows:

Hun- Thoug if g dreds sands \V I order order Actuator leg l 1 Carry 10 1 3 Register wheel 2 4 t drive may occur during any portion of the registering cycle, and it is also accompanied by lost motion, whereby the carry impulse tends to diminish and die out before it is transmitted to the extreme left hand wheels.

Furthermore, through the differential action of the orbital gearing, this rapid augmentation of the driven speed of the numeral wheel is reflected back to the wheels of lower order. In other words if a differential registration and a tens carry registration should occur simultaneously in several adjacent register wheels a strongly augmented reactance-would be exerted upon the lowest order register wheel of the series as it passes through nine and one-half in 76) either direction. This reactance force has a tendency to build up to such magnitude as to become destructive to the parts in high speed operation unless, means are provided for preventing such excessive building up by reducing frictional losses. The several means whereby this is accomplished will be hereinafter described.

Primarily, the register herein disclosed is intended for use in a calculating machine wherein division may be performed automatically, upon 80 entering the dividend and divisor and setting the machine in operation. In this operation the registering position of the wheels, approximately at the end of each cycle of operation, will determine the nature of the next registration, so that all lost motion in the tens carry trains must be compensated quickly, and the use of springs, etc., to complete the carry, will not be suitable in a high speed machine.

One of the features by which the above-noted building up of inertia and frictional resistance is reduced, in the present invention, is by the combination of a direct drive connection between the lower and higher order wheels, with a frictional drive arrangement whereby the carry members and the register wheels tend to rotate in the desired direction. It has previously been proposed, as in the British patent to Vermehren, No. 23,241, of 1906, to use a frictional drive to aid the tens carry but, according to the present invention, the necessary means has been provided for preventing this friction from exerting a bind upon the lower order wheel, which would neutralize the assistance given the higher order wheel where carry mechanism of true Geneva type is employed, as in the disclosure of this British patent.

Preferably, the tens carry train consists of that variety of orbital gearing described as entocyclic in Patent No. 1,794,514, issued to George 0. Chase on March 3, 1931 and in Patent No. 110

1,828,180, issued to Clyde Gardner on October 20, 1931. The term entocyclic is intended to distinguish from epicyclic gearing, wherein, characteristically, a planet gear rolls around a sun gear, whereas in entocyclic gearing the characteristic action is the carrying of the gear in an orbit Within the circumference of an internal gear.

In utilizing entocyclic gearing for the tens carry mechanism of a register, the rotary movement of the differential pinion has heretofore been used to receive the impulse of the differential actuators, while the movement of said pinion in its orbit has been used to transmit the carry impulses. This has been due to the nature of these two movements, and to the convenience of getting a more extended movement by rotation of the pinion, but the inertia and frictional loss is greater in the orbital move ment of the pinion and, according to the present invention, the rotary movement thereof is used to transmit the carry impulse, since the tens carry train constitutes the mechanism subjected to the building up of speed above-explained.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of parts, as set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating the invention:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation, with parts shown in section, of a series of register wheels equipped with tens carry mechanism, according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a section, taken on line 22 of Fig. 1, showing a register wheel and associated parts.

Fig. 3 is a section, taken on line 33 of Fig. 1, showing parts of the carry and alignor mechanisms. 1

Fig. 4 is a detail left side elevation of a group of alignor cams.

In the drawings, a series of gears 10 are intended to receive impulses from the differential actuator gears of the machine, these gears being of any desired type, and designed to be so set that varying degrees of movement will be transmitted to the gears 10 (Fig. 2) upon rotation of the series of differential actuators.

Gears 10 mesh with a series of gears 11 (Fig. 1) fast upon sleeves 12, provided with eccentric portions 13, upon which floating pinions 14 are loosely mounted. The pinions 14 are provided with external teeth, meshing with internal gears 15 rigidly secured upon the register wheels 16. Therefore, movement transmitted through gears 10 and 11 will rotate sleeve 12 and, through the eccentric 13 will carry the floating pinion 14 about an orbit within the gear 15, thereby rotating gear 15 and register wheel 16. As shown, eccentric 13 rotates one third revolution for each unit to be registered on the register wheel, making three revolutions to register the digit nine.

Each lower order register wheel is provided with an elliptic gear 17, fast thereto, said gear meshing with an elliptic gear 18, loosely mounted on a supporting shaft 19 by means of a sleeve 20, upon which sleeve is also secured a locking disk or cam 21, provided with a roller 22. In the rotation of these parts, roll 22 sweeps through the teeth of a star wheel 23, freely mounted upon the supporting shaft 24 of the register wheel assembly, and having fast therewith a pinion 25, meshing with internal teeth of the floating pinion 14 of the higher order register wheel. Thus, upon movement of a lower order wheel, roller 22 will be carried around until it encounters the teeth of the star wheel 23 related to the higher orderv register wheel, and, moving through said star Wheel in the tens carry operation, will rotate the floating pinion 14 on its axis, and advance the higher order wheel a single step.

Both the differential actuator movement and the tens carry movement above-described may occur in either direction of rotation of the parts, providing for additive or subtractive rotation of the register wheels.

The shaft 19, supporting the carry members 18, 20, 21, 22 is driven by a gearing connection, shown diagrammatically in Fig. 2 in dotted lines, said gearing being in train with the differential actuators which rotate gears 10, so that forward or reverse rotation of said actuators will cause forward or reverse rotation of shaft 19. The latter shaft is connected by means of elliptic gears 26 and 27 with the shaft 24, so that both shafts will be driven in the direction of rotation of the parts mounted thereon. Thus, in case of a carry being transmitted to a wheel simultaneously with a selected registration thereon; the register wheel, star wheel, each member of the entocyclic train, and the supporting shaft 24 will all be rotated in a single given direction, and the carry transmission parts on shaft 19, together with said shaft will all rotate in the opposite direction, cooperating therewith thus greatly reducing bearing friction.

An escapement detent 28 is provided for each star wheel 23, said detent having an arm adapted to be engaged by the related .cam 21. Cam 21 is provided with a low portion 33, connected by opposed lifts 32 with an extended concentric looking portion, such cam being so arranged that its low portion 33 will be opposite contact face 34 of the detent arm as the roller 22 passes through star wheel 23, allowing the detent to be displaced from its location between the teeth of said wheel. In the position of these parts illustrated in Fig. 3, in which the lower order numeral wheel stands at zero, face 34 of the detent arm is opposite-an intermediate lift portion 32 of cam 21, so that in this position a certain degree of movement of the detent is possible (during the time alignor cams 29 are moving through mid-cycle position), although the tooth of the detent cannot escape from between the teeth of the star wheel.

This detent mechanism is intended to obviate the binding or cramping action which has been found to result from the use of a Geneva lock in orbital gear tens carry mechanism. Orbital gearing, because of its differential action, exerts a reactive force toward the tens carrying train connected with the next lowerorder numeral wheel whenever a higher order numeral wheel is rotated by its differential actuator. In other words the same force which advances the higher wheel tends to retract the next lower wheel, through the train of tens carrying mechanism. Thus, taking the Vermehren British Pat-.

ent 23,240 of 1906, above referred to, as an example, when this train embodies a Geneva mechanism, the Geneva gear (7L2, Fig. 7b of Vermehren) tends to rotate against the locking disk (T2) on the next lower wheel. In starting and stopping the higher order wheel the resistance force will tend first to rotate the gear (712) in a reverse and then in a forward direction. Because of the unfavorable angle at which pressure is thus exerted, a cramping action is set up which considerably retards any simultaneous rotation of the next lower register wheel by the differential or the tens carry mechanism. In the pres-' ent mechanism, under similar conditions, as the star wheel 23 tends to be rotated backward by the higher wheel, detent 28 becauseof the location of its support shaft 31, is thrust against locking cam 21 radially thereof, so that only a negligible drag is reflected back to the lower wheel.

In order to take up the lostmotion in the gear train and to hold the register wheels normally with their figures in alignment, a series of alignor cams 29 are provided, fast upon shaft 24, these cams contacting with pawls 30, engaging the detents 28, so that contact of an alignor cam 29 with a pawl 30 will force the tooth of the detent into position between the teeth of the star wheel 23, completing the rotation of said star wheel, and thereby of the carry movement, and holding the carry leg of the differential in aligned position.. The cam surfaces of the alignors 29- are offset in a spiral about shaft 24 so that they will act successively from the lower to the higher orders of the machine during the rotation of said shaft, two oppositely pitched spirals being formed by these cam faces, to provide for the action of the alignors during forward and during reverse rotation of the parts. Thus the cams are of less angular extent progressively from right to left of the machine, as indicated by the dotted lines Fig. 3. This aligning action will occur, according to the illustrated embodiment of the invention, during the last quarter of each cycle of operation (not limited .to a quarter rotation of shaft 24, because of the elliptic gearing 26, 27) the second and third quarters serving to register the values set in the differential actuators and to accomplish the preliminary tens carry movements. In the lowest order, cam 29 may become a full disk, serving through detent 28, to lock the star wheel 23 at all times.

The elliptic gears 17 and 18, provided in the carry train, serve not only to reduce the direct load encountered during a tens carry operation, but also serve to reduce the excessive reactance load resulting from the frictional build up, as explained in the preamble of this specification. By means of these elliptic gears the tens carrying pin 22 is given greater movement at a higher speed during the tens carrying action, and the lifts 32 of cam 21, being extended over a correspondingly greater are, will present an easier camming angle to the contacting arm of detent 28. This is of particular importance under the condition of operation in which ,a higher order star wheel 23 is pressing detent 28 against a cam surface 32, the lower order register wheel simultaneously moving cam 2.1 in a direction to force the detent up the slope of said cam surface. Elliptic gears 26 and 27 of the allgnor mechanism serve to provide for a more extensive movement of the operating parts through their active zones, so that, in using small diameter, light parts, the spacing may be more open and greater tolerances may be allowed in the adjustment of parts.

I claim:

1. In a register having an ordinal series of numeral wheels; orbital gear tens carry mechanism comprising positive drive unit entering means engageable with the higher order wheels. simultaneously driven devices having frictional connection with said wheels, a locking cam driven in time with said unit entering means, and a detent associated with the carry mechanism of each numeral wheel and having an arm radially movable with relation to and contacting with the locking cam.

2. In a register having a shaft, an ordinal series of numeral wheels revolubly mounted thereon, a second shaft, and tens carry mechanism including elements revolubly mounted on said second shaft and engageable with the higher order wheels through orbital gearing; positive drive means for said tens carry elements, a driving connection between the numeral wheel shaft and the carry element shaft, a locking cam connected with said tens carry elements, and a detent associated with said orbital gearing and having an arm radially movable with relation to and contacting with the locking cam.

3. In a register having a shaft, an ordinal series of numeral wheels revolubly mounted thereon, a second shaft, and tens carry mechanism including elements revolubly mounted on said second shaft engageable with the higher order wheels through orbital gearing; positive drive means for said tens carry elements, a driving connection between the numeral wheel shaft and the carry element shaft, a common reversible drive member for said drive means and i said driving connection, a locking cam con nected with said tens carry elements, and a detent associated with said orbital gearing and having an arm radially movable with relation to and contacting with the locking cam.

4. In a register having an ordinal series of numeral wheels and differential actuators for said wheels; entocyclic tens carry mechanism comprising an eccentric driven by one of said differential actuators, a floating gear revolubly mounted on said eccentric, an internal gear'fast" with the numeral wheel and meshing with said floating gear, and an intermittent driving connection between each lower order numeral wheel and the wheel of next higher order, including a pinion meshing withand adapted to rotate said floating gear.

5. In a register having an ordinal series of numeral wheels, cyclically operated differential actuators therefor, and orbital gear tens carry mechanism; a detent associated with the carry mechanism of each numeral wheel, devices operable by the tens carry mechanism to alternately lock and release the detent of a higher order wheel, devices operable to reengage the detents, and means for driving the reengaging devices in cycle with said actuators.

6. In a register having an ordinal series of nu-' meral-wheels, cyclically operated differential actuators. therefor, an orbital gear tens carry mechanism; a detent associated with the carry mechanism of each numeral wheel, devices operable by the tens carry mechanism to alternately lock and release the detent of a higher order wheel, a shaft, devices spirally arranged about said shaft and operable to reengage the detents successively, and means for driving said shaft in cycle with said actuators.

7. In a register having an ordinal series of numeral wheels, cyclically operated differential actuatorstherefor, and reversely operable orbital gear tens carry mechanism; a detent associated with the carry mechanism of each numeral wheel, devices operable forwardly and reversely by the tens carry mechanism to alternately lock and release the detent of a higher orderwheel, a shaft, devices arranged about said shaft in two reverse spirals and operable to reengage the detents successively, in either direction of rotation of said shaft, and means for driving said shaft forwardly and reverseiy, in cycle with'said actuators.

8. In a register, a shaft, a series of interconnected registering elements freely mounted thereon. drive mechanism including means for rotating said elements individually, and means for rotating said shaft synchronously with and in the direction of rotation of the registering elements, an alignor means operable successively upon the registering elements.

9. In a register, a shaft, a series of interconnected registering elements freely mounted thereon, drive mechanism including means for rotating said elements individually, and variable speed gearing adapted to rotate said shaft synchronously with and in the direction of rotation of the registering elements, and alignor means operable successively upon the registering elements during a low speed rotation of said shaft.

10. In a register having an ordinal series of numeral wheels, the combination with differential actuators for said wheels, tens carry driving members, and orbital gearing connecting said actuators and said tens carry members with said numeral wheels, of a variable speed gearing connection between each lower order numeral wheel and the adjacent higher order tens carry driving member and adapted to provide for a high speed carry movement and a low speed ineffective movement of said member.

11. In a register having an ordinal series of numeral wheels, a supporting shaft and tens carry driving members supported upon said shaft; means for rotating said shaft synchronously with and in the direction of rotation of the supported members, and variable speed gearing connection between each lower order numeral wheel and the adjacent higher order tens carry driving member and adapted to provide for a high speed carry movement and a low speed ineffective movement of said member.

12. In a register having an ordinal series of numeral wheels, differential actuators therefor, tens carry mechanism comprising driving and driven members, and orbital gearing connecting said actuators and said tens carry mechanism with said numeral wheels; a shaft spaced from said tens carry mechanism, a series of escapement detents engageable each with a driven tens carry member, a series of locking disks fast each with a driving tens carry member, engageable with a detent to hold the same in engagement with the corresponding driven tens carry mem- GEORGE C. CHASE. 

